Institute

Founded in 1994, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin is one of the more than 80 research institutes administered by the Max Planck Society. It is dedicated to the study of the history of science and aims to understand scientific thinking and practice as historical phenomena.

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The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science comprises scholars across all Departments and Research Groups, as well as an Administration team, IT Support, Research IT Group, and Research Coordination and Communications team.

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The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) engages with the research community and broader public, and is committed to open access.

This section provides access to published research results and electronic sources in the history of science. It is also a platform for sharing ongoing research projects that develop digital tools.

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The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science frequently shares news, including calls for papers and career opportunities. The Media & Press section highlights press releases and the Institute's appearances in national and global media. Public events—including colloquia, seminars, and workshops—are shown on the events overview.

Jessica Varner

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (Nov 2017-Dec 2017)

Jessica Varner is a PhD candidate in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation Chemical Desires (1851–1929): Making the Architectural Materials of Modernity looks at the rise of chemicals within architectural building materials, specifically in North America, Germany, North America, England, and Australia. In particular, her research locates shifts in chemical knowledge, architectural use, advertising, corporate formation, R&D in chemical engineering, mass-production practices, and global effects within the aesthetic debates in architectural modernism and beyond. She will use her stay as a pre-doctoral fellow at the MPIWG to investigate the role of BASF in global advertising and production of synthetic architectural colorings and coatings in the late nineteenth century. Her research has been supported by grants and fellowships, including from the MIT Presidential Fellowship, MIT MISTI India and Germany, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Graham Foundation.

Jessica received a MSc from the University of Nebraska (2005), and a M.Arch (2008) and a MED (2014, History) from Yale University with a thesis on the expertise debates in the 1970s between the climate scientists and architects in the publication CoEvolutionary Quarterly (California). She is also an architect and began teaching architecture at the University of Southern California and Woodbury University in Los Angeles in 2009, while practicing architecture in Los Angeles (CA) at Michael Maltzan Architecture. Prior co-edited titles include Retrospecta 06/07 (Yale, 2007), Paul Rudolph: Writing on Architecture (Yale, 2009), and No More Play (Hatje Cantz, 2011).

Projects

CurrentCompleted

Chemical Desires (1850–1929): Making the Architectural Materials of Modernity